Teens' bizarre kidnapping plot 'the real deal'

The suspects had a machete and rope, which prosecutors believe would have been used to torture their victim had they not been caught.

Three Oroville teenagers accused of kidnapping a Marysville teen should be taken seriously, said Yuba County District Attorney Pat McGrath.

"I think what throws people off, when they read the story, is the ages of these young men," McGrath said. "You have to forget their chronological age when considering what they were planning to do."

The juveniles will be tried as adults because of the severity of the charges and their acts, he said. If convicted, they face sentences of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

"This was a carefully formulated plan to first kidnap, then torture, and then kill the victim, and it wasn't just talk," McGrath said Tuesday.

Frank A. Oddo, 16, Jacob G. Cadena, 17, and Jessy J. Murray, 17, pleaded not guilty on Monday to felony charges of kidnapping, kidnapping to commit extortion, and kidnapping with the intent of sexual assault. They are being held at Yuba-Sutter Juvenile Hall without bail.

One of three had originally been reported to be from Redding; the District Attorney's Office said Wednesday they all had Oroville addresses.

"It's the real deal," McGrath said of the suspects and their plans. Personnel in his office are still piecing together information regarding the kidnapping and charges against the boys may change as more information comes to light.

"My understanding is this all flows back to the victim's relationship with a girl," McGrath said.

The teens were arrested Saturday afternoon near Browns Valley as they were carrying out a plan to kidnap the victim and steal his cellphone. The plan then was that one of the three would pose as the victim and break up with the girlfriend, then call to console her and try to date her, according to Undersheriff Jerry Read.

McGrath said one of the boys spearheaded the plan and recruited the other boys. But, he said, it sounds like "they were all on board."

The boys created a fake Facebook profile and set up a meeting with the Marysville boy on Spring Valley Road for a supposed marijuana transaction, according to Read.

When they showed up, the front passenger pointed a handgun, later determined to be an Airsoft pistol, at the victim and ordered him into their vehicle.

After being apprehended by Yuba County sheriff's deputies, the teenagers gave different accounts of what they intended to do to the victim, Read said.

The plans ranged from wanting to scare the victim, to breaking his ankles, slicing the bottoms of his feet with a razor blade, and cutting his Achilles tendon, to sexually assaulting him, hanging him upside down and slicing his throat — murdering him.

"Everything they were describing, they had the mechanical means to make happen," McGrath said.

The teens were in the process of carrying out the plan, forcing the victim into their vehicle, when "by the grace of god," according to McGrath, the boy's aunt came on the scene and intervened.

She saw the boys, who were wearing bandanas, kidnapping her nephew, forcing him into a Chevy Blazer. She followed the Blazer and alerted dispatch of their location until a deputy was able to stop them and arrest them, according to Read.

"The real interesting question is, if the aunt hadn't come on scene what ultimately would have happened with this young man?" McGrath said.